Beta Tester Quick Start

Welcome to the HELIX Mission Control beta! This guide gets you from zero to running in 10 minutes.

What is HELIX?

A self-hosted platform for running AI agent teams. You bring your own AI API key, HELIX gives you the dashboard to manage agents, assign tasks, review outputs, and automate workflows.

What You Need

Option A: A VPS (Virtual Private Server)

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 or Debian 11/12
• RAM: 4GB minimum
• Disk: 20GB minimum
• Recommended providers:
  • Hostinger KVM4 (~$10/mo)
  • DigitalOcean Droplet ($24/mo)
  • Hetzner CX22 (€5/mo)

Option B: macOS (for local dev / small business)

• OS: macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon or Intel)
• Requires: Docker Desktop installed and running

An AI Model API Key

You need at least one of these:

Provider	Get Key At	Cost
Moonshot (Kimi K2.5)	platform.moonshot.ai	Free tier available
OpenAI (GPT-4o)	platform.openai.com	Pay-per-use
Anthropic (Claude)	console.anthropic.com	Pay-per-use
NVIDIA NIM	build.nvidia.com	Free tier available

Your License Key

You should have received a license key from us that looks like: HLX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

Installation

1. Run the installer

Linux / VPS — SSH into your server first (ssh root@your-server-ip), then:

curl -fsSL https://helixnode.tech/install.sh | sudo bash

macOS — open Terminal and run (no sudo needed):

curl -fsSL https://helixnode.tech/install.sh | bash

Follow the prompts. When it finishes, it will print your HELIX URL.

3. Open the onboarding wizard

Open the printed URL in your browser. The onboarding wizard will guide you through:

1. Welcome — overview of HELIX
2. Organization — create your org name and admin account
3. License Key — choose "I Have a License Key" and paste your key
4. AI Model — select your provider, paste your API key, test the connection
5. Departments & Boards — choose from templates or create custom
6. Agents — select agent packs (Marketing, CS, Operations, Tech)
7. Telegram — optional, connect a Telegram bot for mobile commands
8. Team — invite team members (optional)

First Things to Try

Once you're in the dashboard, here are some things to explore:

Create and execute a task

1. Go to any board (e.g., Marketing → Social Media)
2. Click "Create Task"
3. Give it a title like "Write 5 Instagram captions for a phone case launch"
4. Assign it to an agent (e.g., Wordsmith)
5. Watch the agent pick it up and generate a result

Try @mentions

1. Open any task
2. In the comments, type @ followed by an agent name
3. The agent will respond in the comment thread

Explore the Marketplace

1. Go to Marketplace in the sidebar
2. Browse agent templates, skills, workflows, and plugins
3. Try installing a template

Build a Workflow

1. Go to Workflows in the sidebar
2. Click "Create Workflow"
3. Add steps, assign agents to each step
4. Execute the workflow and watch the progress

Try Skills

1. Go to Skills in the sidebar
2. Create a custom skill (a knowledge document for your agents)
3. Assign it to an agent — the agent will use it when executing tasks

Useful Commands

cd ~/helix-mission-control

# Check if all services are running
docker compose ps

# View live logs
docker compose logs -f --tail=100

# Restart everything
docker compose down && docker compose up -d

# Update to latest version
git pull && docker compose up -d --build

Giving Feedback

Your feedback is incredibly valuable! Here's what we want to know:

• Installation: Did everything work smoothly? Any errors or confusing steps?
• Onboarding: Was the wizard clear? Did you get stuck anywhere?
• AI Agents: Do agents respond correctly? Are results useful?
• UI/UX: What's confusing? What's missing? What feels good?
• Stability: Any crashes, errors, or unexpected behavior?
• Value: Would you pay for this? What would make it worth it?

How to report:

• Message in the beta feedback group
• Screenshots help — include what you clicked and what happened
• For errors, run docker compose logs -f --tail=100 and share the output

Your Beta Plan

• Plan: Starter (5 agents, 3 team members)
• Duration: 90 days free
• Docs: docs.helixnode.tech
• Support: Direct message or beta feedback group